1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a firmware updating method, an image forming apparatus, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus has been proposed that is provided with a firmware updating function configured to enable updating of firmware for control of the image forming apparatus. The firmware updating function may require replacement of firmware on the image forming apparatus with new firmware for a purpose such as enhancing the functions of the image forming apparatus, or solving a failure.
However, it may be the case that during updating of the firmware, an unexpected power failure to the image forming apparatus may occur due to a reason such as a power outage or earthquake. When a power failure occurs, the writing of the new firmware may be terminated in a non-complete state with the result that the updating of the firmware fails. In this case, there is the possibility that the image forming apparatus may not be capable of restarting.
Typically, an image forming apparatus has been provided with the following configuration. That is to say, the image forming apparatus includes a second component of firmware that is separate to the firmware that is updated by the firmware updating function. Thereby, the image forming apparatus restarts the second firmware component when an update fails. The second firmware component of the image forming apparatus that includes such a configuration has the function for example of re-executing the firmware updating function. In this manner, the image forming apparatus can be restored from an update failure. For example, the communication apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-318871 sets a flag after downloading of the firmware in order to indicate whether the rewrite of the firmware is current or complete. When the communication apparatus is restarted during the firmware rewrite, a recovery operation is executed. The communication apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-318871 is applied as an image forming apparatus to thereby enable the image forming apparatus to re-execute an update during a restart even after failure of the firmware update.
Recent years has witnessed general availability of an image forming apparatus configured to store various types of data as files in a storage apparatus of the image forming apparatus by use of a file system in relation to management of firmware or image data. Firmware for an image forming apparatus that uses a file system is also stored in the storage apparatus as a file.
A journaling function is a general feature of recent file systems. A journaling function is a type of function configured to prevent occurrence of an abnormality due to a power failure in relation to a file system. However, a file system that includes a journaling function is associated with an impaired performance for file writing into the storage apparatus. That is to say, since time is required to write new firmware into a storage apparatus, the time required for firmware updating increases in a similar manner. Therefore, the burden on a user is increased since time is required in particular for updating of an image forming apparatus that includes large-scale firmware that is configured from a large number of files.